Who better to tell us about beautiful Queenstown in Summer than Stephen O’Donnell, our Front Office Manager at Rydges Lakeland Resort…

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Got to Love Queenstown Summers!

I was recently walking from the CBD to the resort, around lunchtime along Lake Esplanade (five mins)... During this short walk I thought, wow! where else in the world can you find this much activity and people absolutely enjoying the weather and everything Queenstown has to offer. If I had a camera, that would have been the best opportunity to create a video advertisement to capture the attention of any outdoors loving person in the World.

I thought it would be a good idea to stand in one spot and look around for all of the activities and attractions available on offer...this is what I saw:

On the lake:

TSS Earnslaw - Cruising past on its way to Walter Peak for a beautiful BBQ buffet lunch & farm show…

Hydro Attack – The shark-like vessel that races across the lake, able to dive and submerge for periods of time…

K Jet and Thunder Jet, roaring around the lake at ridiculous speeds doing full 360’s…

People on hired pushbikes enjoying the picturesque scenery along the lake…

If you can find a place in the world where you can see all of this, simply by doing a 360 degrees turn on a lakeside street at midday any day of the week, I would be very interested to know. Now the question is...Why are you not here?

Here’s one of our top picks for things to do in Queenstown this Summer.

Trudie Clay looks after weddings and conferences at Rydges Lakeland Resort. She also gets out & about and is our guest blogger today!

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When it comes to four-wheel driving (4WD), in the past I have been with Nomad Safaris. Having tried it a few times now I was keen for another round of the action. My friends decided to take a private vehicle out on the track so I went along to. I have to say that this was not the best idea! After the truck nearly went head first into the watery depths of a cave, I can now honestly say you should ALWAYS leave it up to the professionals!

However, that aside, we did discover a few great spots that you can request when you next book a 4WD tour. Macetown is a lovely wee place, a hot-spot for mining back in the day but also a film location for Lord of the Rings. There are definitely certain spots that die hard fans will be able to recognise. Nomad Safaris does a great 4WD trip there, crossing the water, seeing where LOTR was filmed and they even teach you how to gold pan!

We also checked out Glenorchy. I had never been here before and it is an amazing hidden spot. It has very beautiful scenery that is difficult to describe. I would recommend it as a MUST-SEE!